Today I am going to explain a trick employed by Petrol Pump guys which might be costing you a lot of money on a per year basis. You might be loosing a couple of thousands each year because of this scam which probably goes on at each petrol pump.

How Fraud at Petrol Pump Works!

When you ask them to fill petrol for Rs 1,000 , the attendant fills up the oil only for Rs 200 . When you ask him why he didnt fill up for Rs 1,000 . He will give a innocent smile and say that he heard Rs 200 and he will fill remaining Rs 800 , he resets the meter and fills up another Rs 800 petrol and you pay Rs 1,000 (200+800).

Whats the scam here ? The problem is that he never resets the meter to 0 , he continues from the Rs 200 point itself and go till Rs 800 , so in reality you only get the petrol worth Rs 800, but pay Rs 1,000 . The trick here is that when he says that he is resetting the meter to 0 and moves towards it, at that some moment, another team mate of attendant will disturb you with some question like – “Sir, Cash or Card?” , or “Sir, PUC karana hai kya?” , Or “Sir can you fill up this coupon ?” .

As a human tendency – you will have to look at him or hear him and in those 3-4 seconds , the main attendent will start the meter again and by the time you look at the meter, its somewhere near 300-400 , and you feel that the meter has restarted starting from 0 , but actually it was just continued from 200 point only. So you loose Rs 200 here.

I would like to show you some of the real life experiences

Experience 1

Today I went on a 150Km trip to Kanchipuram. Because it was a long trip I decided to check the mileage of my car, so did not fill petrol at a regular pump and waited for the fuel indicator to sync with a marking. I reset the trip meter and filled petrol at the next petrol pump which was an Indian Oil pump in Pallavaram on the left while going towards Tambaram. I told the cashier that I wanted petrol for Rs.500 and took out the money from my purse and handed it to the cashier. When I looked at the guy at the pump, he told me that he had filled the petrol and wanted me to verify.

The meter showed Rs.200, so I told the guy that I asked for Rs.500, but I sensed something wrong. I was sure when he filled the next 300 from the time it took for it that he had not filled anything to start with as he showed me the meter too soon. I wasn’t sure about what to do in that position and left. It was obvious when I checked the mileage that the guy had cheated. I could go for a distance of only 52Kms with that petrol and the mileage for Rs.500 of petrol with that distance is 7.5Kmpl. Whereas if I take it as Rs.300, the mileage is 12.5Kmpl which is within the expected range. Moreover I filled for another Rs.500 at Kancheepuram and the mileage I got is 12.7Kmpl and the fuel indicator is still above the mark. I have been driving since 2001 and this is the first time something like this has happened to me. (Source)

Experience 2

At the first petrol dispensing counter (as you enter the petrol pump), the attendants frequently cheat customers. You ask them to fill, say, Rs.100 worth of petrol. However clearly you say it, one employee will fill only Rs.50 worth of petrol in just about 2 seconds when another employee tries to distract you. Within a blink of an eye, the counter goes from Rs. 0 to Rs.50. When you tell him that you’d asked for Rs.100 worth of petrol, he will apologize saying he didn’t hear it properly, and fill the remaining Rs.50 worth. The second Rs.50 petrol will take about 5-10 seconds to fill. You finally end up paying Rs.100 and getting petrol worth far less than that.

This has happened a few times with me and some friends. The cheating procedure has always been the same although the amounts differ. I know for sure that I’ve been cheated because my bike gives me a mileage of about 50km/litre normally, but when these incidents happen, I get far less mileage than this.. (Source)

How to Complain for this Petrol Pump Fraud?

IF you feel you are cheated, you can complain about this fraud to the petrol pump company like HPCL, BPCL or IOC. You have customer care numbers of these companies and also web portals for registering complaints online explaining them the exact issue (it can be various issues).

Also ask for complaint book from the attendant, and put the written complaint in that complaint book. Most of the times they will make an excuse that the complaint book is locked in the room or something like that, tell them you are calling the company customer care and will complain about them

Make sure you ask them to meet the outlet manager, ask for their phone numbers if they are not present and try to talk to them, make the scene

Make the scene, scream at them and be tough if you are very sure you are duped and lost the money. In front of other customers they are bound to correct their mistake

Open you fuel lid, only when the meter is reset to 0 .

Get out of your CAR and stand next to the person putting fuel, makes it tougher for them to cheat you

Conclusion

This is happening all over the country of various petrol pump outlets and this can easily be a scam worth thousands of crores rupees, provided there are thousands of petrol pumps in country and millions fill up petrol everyday. The best measure to fight against this is to spread this information to more and more people you know and also be attentive and alert while you are filling up petrol or diesel in your vehicle.

Have you ever come across this fraud has it happened with you ?

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219 replies on this article “How you are cheated at Petrol Pump and lose money on every visit ?”

Thanks a lot for this post….this actually helped a lot…we got fooled the same way just now at a bpcl petrol pump in gurgaon. when we noticed the meter we knew something was fishy… although we drove away…then while in the car i came across this post and at once knew what had happened…i asked my brother to drive back..we did go back to that same petrol pump and had a verbal argument…with the workers than the manager came and asked us to settle the whole thing..he even re filled the car with 1000 rs petrol…thank god i had asked for the bill earlier…we are going to complain about this incident (once we reach home)
But again thanks a lot…i am going to share this stuff to as many ppl i knw

Today I am also cheated in exactly same way. I said to fill petrol of rs 120 and he filled petrol of rs 40 first and then I didn’t noticed either he filled petrol of rs 80 or just meter reached at 80. When I went to home I saw that I got very less petrol.

There should be an automated receipt for every fuel transaction, like ATM , then they will bound to fill accurate and I know it’s a wastage of papers . So, plastic or some other material should be used

1. As Riyaz told please feel compulsory in odd figures like I fill 4 litres – Rs. 280
2. Car Owners should come out to fill petrol, Shell Petrol Pumps are good to serve, it is Best Way to fill petrol and again in odd figures, so these Fraud can not happen, if PUC, Discount Coupon people come, just keep an eye on counter and in better words – ask them to stay away.

The Best possible way is to ask for the bill for the Petrol transaction done.. Do this before he starts filling up.. So that he won’t even consider attempting a fraud, because the transaction bill will show how much Petrol was filled up

This happened with me on Agra expressway but I noticed as soon as I looked at my fuel meter and questioned the guy. Then I asked for separate receipt which he was not able to provide and then he refilled it again for rest of the amount.

I met same incident yesterday in same agara indian oil…. I asked to fill for 300. that guy immediately given the card swipe machine to me to swipe the card.. I was bit confused. Usually they will swipe and will give the device to enter the pin but he wanted me to swipe by the second about to swipe I felt something fishy immediately i saw the meter it runned till 200 again the guy started talking and divert me. I saw the sudden change over of meter from 200 to 300 with in a second.(0 – 200 took 15secs approx). I shouted at the person he said no its faster so you cannot see the change over. I parked my bike and shouted like hell how it is possible? Again another person came how much you saw , I said Rs.200. He swiped for 200 and given the bill for Rs.200. These kind frauds happening mostly in Indian oil..

Hello everyone, above mentioned points are very useful. Once I have been cheated in the same manner as explained above. I am feeling very bad being cheated by petrol pump guys. I would like to lodge complain against the petrol pump owner. Is there any government body who is looking after these types of complaints except Oil companies?

I faced a similar problem.
I asked for Rs 500 petrol for my bike at an IOC outlet. But, the person who was filling the petrol provided for Rs. 100 only. Then, tried to confirm, whether I have asked for Rs. 500. When , I reiterated, he done some setting. And, then started to fill. There were 3 guys. The person who was collecting money tried to distract me. the person filling the petrol stopped at 400. I was amazed at it. As, I had noticed, the meter not getting reset. But, I thought, may be this is the way it works.
But, inside it was feeling like I got cheated.

But, thanks to you guys. I read this article. And, I realized, this is there normal convention of cheating. I went back to the Petrol pump in an hour, thinking to make noise and report the complaint.

But, after seeing me and my anger. They realized that, they won’t be spared. So, they thought to return the money. Money is not the big deal. But, it gave me internal satisfaction, that at least I fought for my case.

These, guys are regularly loosing their trust in minds of regular customers due to these petty acts.

Okay, this might sound silly but if you are very very sure that a filling guy is cheating you then make use of your smartphone. Just point the phone to the meter and record the video without him knowing and act as if you are looking elsewhere. You can also get “distracted” knowing that your phone is watching him which the filling guy might not be aware of. You can go through this video later to see if he has messed around with that meter and then you can catch hold of him with all the proof.

Is it possible to get out of the car and fill petrol yourselves and pay at petrol pumps in India. Is it against the law? It is done widely in the western countries. Infact when uv have to do the things yourself in these countries uv realize v there are so many things u don’t know about where the ppl can cheat u. The petrol dribbles slowly on reaching the mark and the npzzle is to be left for atlest 15 -20 seconds. There have been instances I have just put the nozzle to the tank and atlest 100 ml came b4 pressing the trigger.

Today again at bharat petroleum pump I refueling of 200 for testing, and again the guy stop at 50 and when I said 200 he started refueling again & I told for reset the meter he told me that this will reset automatically and refueling upto 200. I came to home and placed a complaint online, with in half an hour customer care executive call back me and ask every things happend there, and told me that they will enquiry it today.
I will update if any thing happen.

After 2 hours there was a call for me from the Manager of that petrol pump. Ask me for the incedent and collect all the details like (which machine, attendant details to identify etc.) then told me that they recently kick out an attendant doing this, and will take action on this guy also. Again said “you can came to my cabin and complaint about this. Next time you can directly call me or come to my cabin.”

I purchased my new bike in indore last month .
After first servicing for checking the mileage fillup petrol of 200rs and ride about 183 km.
But in next 200rs the guy cheated me, as filling 50 then 150. And I got only 143km.

Folks, all the above mentioned comments are really useful and helpful. Let me share the best ever scam done by every petrol pump guy which will give you goose bumps, be careful about these tricks played by pump owners and staff. Its really important for all of us to know about it.

what petrol pump owners does ? they will do multiple way of settings / scams in pumps.

1. The trick here is if you as for petrol in bottle they will send you to such pump which does not have setting in it and we can see 1 liter petrol clearly in a bottle.

2. Here the trick is they will never allow you to take petrol in bottle from where they actually fill petrol in cars because heavy setting will be there in such pumps and they will say the nozzle size is big here it will not fit in bottle plz go to other pump there the nozzle size is small and it will fit your bottle size. Try to fight with them if they wont give petrol in bottle from where they pour in cars (Heavy Setting will be made in such pumps)

3. if you ask for 1000 rs petrol think that you are going to get petrol worth of 800 or 900 rs only. pre defined setting will be there for transaction according to the amount. So never take petrol in fixed numbers like 500 or 1000. Always ask for 460 rs petrol or 970 rs petrol.

4. They will have small amount of settings in bike bay pumps, for cars heavy setting is made. Always try to take petrol from Scooter line there less chances of setting / scam is made.

Yesterday night I went to fill petrol for my Chevy Spark car. I asked to fill the fuel for 1000/-, when one started filling the petrol suddenly other guy came to ask card or not. I mentioned card and rewards sale, so he took me to the other side of the pump. I swiped my card and came back to my car, bu that time the meter showed 1000/- done. I left the pump and after a while realized that I have been cheated the Fuel meter is shown 1/4th instead of half , where it should have been after filling 15.5 ltrs. I have been a regular customer of this pump from last 5 years but it never happened to me earlier. When I came back and asked them to clarify they simply denied and tried to prove that I am wrong, with 15.50 ltrs the fuel meter can’t show half mark, which is my regular observations. 15.50+4.50 Ltrs reserve which is 20+ltrs in a 34 Ltrs tank can’t show half after refueling for 1000k? When we asked the name of the person he told Madhu and if I have to meet the Manager of the pump i should come tomorrow morning 6.00 am. He gave a computer generated Bill of 1000/- which I am sure not belongs to my car because after my car there were 3-4 other were waiting to fill up. Cheating of 500/- is not a big deal but from a Petrol pump where I have been going for last several years getting cheated is unbearable. yesterday all the guys were unknown to me.Is there any remediation of this. the IOCL feedback form is not working any other mail id for complaints would be great.

Dear Sir I want to start my business in petroleum but i am so confused because i don’t have any idea. so can you please share your idea regarding how to start business in Nepal and from where to buy(purchase) and petrol pump machine and petrol store tank. Please provide me a detail information regarding this topic. Thanks for your kind support .
NgCCI, Nepalgunj, Nepal

Dear Sir,
I would like request you to that, sir i want to case complaint against one of your dealer SURAJ AUTOMOBIELS ( petrol pump),TELCO, EAST SINGHBHUM,JAMSHEDPUR-831010. they fill less petrol in tanks. this is not first when i have observed it. i have observe it approx 3-4 times. kindly take quick action against them. sir if i fill other petrol pump 1 liter oil and check Kilometer wise found less Kilometer running if fill suraj petrol pump. They meter start when he open handel meter direct start Rs 20 or Rs. 30/-. So please my request to you should callibrate meter or fully checked

Similar kind of experiences at IOC Petrol bunk opposite to NES office,Yelahanka (Bangalore). This has become more frequently in last 1 month. What-ever you tell the attendant (Tank full or 2000 or 3000), person will actually stop at 300 (every time 300) and then you have shout again that this is not what you had asked for. Every time they will pretend that they did not hear it.

Yesterday it happened again and I had to finally tell him that don’t try to re-fill, take 300 rupees and leave it. I would never visit this petrol pump except emergencies.

Mr. Manish,
what is the meaning of thanks, What was the action against corruption. I checked your comment is thanks. I couldn’t get your comment. Please share about action. If you do not share about action so you should not write thanks.

I thanked you that you took time to share your experience on this blog. Also, your comment was more of a sharing and not a question. Atleast it appeared as a sharing with all and not as question. Incase you have a question, you can ask it, I will try to answer it with whatever understanding I have

I would like request you to that, sir i want to case complaint against one of your dealer SURAJ AUTOMOBIELS ( petrol pump),TELCO, EAST SINGHBHUM,JAMSHEDPUR-831010. they fill less petrol in tanks. this is not first when i have observed it. i have observe it approx 3-4 times. kindly take quick action against them. sir if i fill other petrol pump 1 liter oil and check Kilometer wise found less Kilometer running if fill suraj petrol pump. They meter start when he open handel meter direct start Rs 20 or Rs. 30/-. So please my request to you should callibrate meter or fully checked

Recently, I have observed cheating at Indian Oil Pump at Pondicherry. The meter just rushed from 0 to 3 liters in few seconds and after that it became slow .. and again fast. I complaint to the attendant but because of language, he just waived his head. I think I got cheated for at-least 3-5 liters of petrol.

The biggest cheaters are the Oil Marketing Companies in India, as a customer and as per international laws petroleum products are to be sold at 15 degree centigrade only. on every 1000 liter per 1 degree centigrade there will be a reduction of 1.06 Liters of petrol . Every oil companies make their purchase on 15 degree centigrade and claim temperate loss. this is cheating and oil companies are to deliver petrol to customers at 15 degree or reduce the vale of petrol according to raise in temperature like in other developed countries. If any one in here is from the media or a good advocate we can take up this issue… which will be a blessing for poor oil dealers and their customers. The staff at petrol station may be involved in many cheating activities and 100% dealers are unaware of this…

Cheating at Petrol station is not a big thing to be hi lighted ! Every where the customers are cheated only because the customers wont care to look for the things properly !! We go to a fruit shop ask for 1 kg apple 100% customers dont care to see the scale for any manipulation , like if ty have put some extra weight on the weighing pan , or if they have given you some bad apples etc.. , when you go to a hotel you cant ascertain if the chicken piece in your curry is as per standard weight? and like this every where there is chance of getting cheated….. so the reason for all this is oz the customers dont care to look into all this, if you go to a petrol station , kindly take the following step.
1, look at the meter and ensure it shows 0000 before starting the filling
2 never allow two staff to attened to you for service.
3 always try to come out of the car and stand near the filling point
if you are careful you will never get cheated,,., please dont make the staff at a petrol bunk a thief due to your negligence

Here’s another trick used by the pumps. This one in Pune. Mauli Petrol Pump (Baner Road) – HP dealership. You ask the attendant to fill Rs 1000. He asks you to check the Zero (reset) to gain your trust. Thereafter you don’t pay attention till its time to pay – that’s a mistake. You should pay attention throughout the process. Here’s why.

Attendant punches in Rs 1000 into the dispenser, asks you to see the Zero and continues filling. Then when it is close to being Rs 1000, say at Rs 800 or so, he pulls a switch to reset the counter – apparently there is a way to “round-off” or reset the amount, so that the amount on the screen is seen as Rs 1000. You feel that Rs 1000 has been filled when in actuality only Rs 800 is filled.

Modus operandi is this. After around half way of fuelling, someone at the pump will distract you for Cash/Card or Car Polish or PUC, etc. It is during this time that the attendant cheats you by pressing the reset switch. This particular pump does not have a electronic receipt system and gives handwritten receipts to hide this fraud – an electronic receipt would have indicated the exact volume of fuel dispensed.

Had caught the HP petrol pump guy on 80ft road in Koramangala, near Maharaja signal. His trick is… You ask for 1000 Rs petrol. They will reset counter and will start to fill petrol. In between, a person will approach u from other side for cash or card.. In the meantime, the person filling petrol or a younger boy (in my case, the younger boy did it) will stop the meter, reset it and set it to 1000. We generally have a tendency to just see the rupees and not litres. In this case, the litres will be 0 as this is the state at the start of the petrol filling.

This happened a few times, when I did not know.. but as my mileage used to be wavered, one of the days, I kept an eye on him and caught the boy doing this.

Same thing today happened to me .I talked to him he was blabbering that you cant reset and all , this is not the first time it happened to me with the same bunk ,so today I noticed more keenly Did you do anything about me. Lets complain about this we should do some thing about this . You can contact me in mail if you want something . sashidhar.ssd @gmail.com

This happened to me just today (and I think twice before also). I raised a complaint with BPCL, but the bunk manager called me and said he checked CCTV footage etc. and said all is good. I really doubt. Anyways, here is the complaint:

========
Type of Complaint : Quantity of Petrol/ Diesel
Description : This is the 3rd time I observed this behavior with this petrol bunk. I ask to fill Rs.1000- petrol in my car, and after filling exactly Rs.203- the person stops and tells that power is down and asks me to see if I have Rs.3- change. The moment I look down for the change, magically, the power comes back and the the person fills for around Rs.800- or so. He tells me that this is in addition to Rs.203- But it is not. They are just distracting me after R.203- and filling another Rs.600- But they are still charging me Rs.1000- making me a loss of Rs.203-. Since this happened frequently to me, I believe either I am an easy target or they are doing this mischief with others too. So I request you to kindly look and this and ask them stop this cheating. You have already lost one valuable customer from today. Never expected this cheap tricks from the prestigious company. Inv. No. 000347, TID 88050402, Time 1033 AM

Exact same condition with me. I told for 200rs in my bike, and the guy stop at 53rs and told me for 3rs change and at that time i was searching and he started for 150. After the low mileage i search on internet & found this blog.

I faced same situation one week back. When I asked for 1000 rupees petrol he filled only for 200 and when I asked him about the reason he filled another 800. As this situation happened earlier times when I used my bike also I suspected that something went wrong. Initially I confirmed it by looking at the digital lines that shows the petrol indicator and confirmed it by the mileage I got. Some action should be taken on these petrol bunks.

Several times it happened to me. Now a days I am very alert while getting the petrol filled but still yesterday HP Petrol bunk KR Puram guy cheated me.

He diverted me saying they are giving free Engine oil and filled 200 Rs petrol although I asked for full tank. After that he didn’t give me the engine oil saying I have to get that filled in the petrol bunk itself. Then when I got the tank full, the total bill was 900 Rs although the FZ tank capacity is I guess 12 litres and petrol price is Rs 62 per litre. I have a HP ICICI coral credit card which I think I will now return to the bank as I will fill petrol only in Shell. I never had any bad experience in Shell. HP, Indian oil are all cheaters.

Hi Manish,
You are doing a great job.
I would like to share my petrol station fraud in Vellore with you. I tried to be extra cautious but they out smarted me every time.
I took my Brother in law yamaha for a ride. I stopped at petrol station near vellore bus stand. I told fill for 300 to the guy as he was preparing to fill the guy seated to my left asked the details of the bike, he kept me engaged and suddenly the meter stopped. I glanced at the meter it was showing 200. Within split seconds it was reset and was filling another bike. The guy to my left without asking handed over me bill of 300. I found it unusual to see bill handed over volunteerily but everything happened so fast around me that I know I was cheated but could not do anything. Next time I went to fill my car and asked the person for 1000.00 . This time I was on the meter but again I wss cleverly distracted by the other guy who said Sir fill for 1020 and it will be a round count . Within that split second the meter was on roll by the time I looked at the meter it was past 200INR. Again I cursed myself and left the station.
Friends be alert and alert everytime you fill petrol.

Why cant u insist through ur good offices to make them install cctv cameras at every petroleum dispensing units? And synk them with the dispensing units? Two for every unit. One focussed on the operater and nozzel and another on the display panel. Then every one who has a doubt can verify then and there itself. And disable the dispensing unit if the video is not recording. It is a simple command. So they may not say the cctv was not functioning!

Can any one tell me in our ulhasnagar area in thane before filling petrol pump the attendent ask us to look at the meter they reset to zero before fillling and then he starts filling ..is there any method in this to cheat…reply appreciated

I think this should also be shared on Twitter and Facebook to create social awareness. You better set up your twitter handle and use hashtag for this. #PetrolChor something like that which will make people click and read title and come to your site to know HOW they actually cheat.

Thank You Jago Investor for this.

Also write a new article on How banks are cheating with Reward Points and customer actually pays the bank 10times more than the rewards earned in the disguise of “Reward Redemption Fee” a hidden charge in statements

Well, I ride a bike, so the case may be different with me. I never ask these pump guys for 100/- or 200/- or 500/- worth of petrol. What I do is, I open the tank, and ask these people to fill the tank. I wait till he resets the display counter, then open the tank and keep on looking till he fills the tank to my satisfaction. Then I ask him to stop and immediately look at the display counter and take a note of the amount. Then I walk with the guy to the counter and use a chip+pin card for payment. I have always seen that my tank fills at 797-830/- (it runs for about 620-680 km after that). Once, I sent my brother-in-law and he filled the tank for 1K and the bike ran for 637 km (I save all the receipts and write down the miles at which I filled the tank, so realized the distance traveled after this round of filling) .

1. Go to the pump with almost empty tank. (Say wagon-r – 35 Liters tank capacity)
2. Ask them to fill for 2000 Rs (around 26 liters) Take the slip.
3. Then ask them to fill the full tank. Convey that u have changed ur decision
4. Take the slip again.
5. Now if the total liters is more than 35 liters (capacity of the vehicle), fight hard and get it published in media or website and escalate. fight it really hard.

My slightly different incident in a Noida Indian Oil petrol pump (near DND expressway) – Aksed the pertol pump person to make it full tank, as I do always and know that from the reserve point which I monitor – it takes around Rs. 2050 to Rs. 2100. Checked the meter as 0 when they started; and since my parents were in the car – went to the ATM in the pump to get some cash – while the petrol was being filled. When I come back the meter was ~ 2100 as expected; however when I give them the card – they swiped for 2400 – stating that after 300 the pump had got cut-off and they had to re-start the filling process – and that they “showed” the cut-off at 300 to my parents also! (My parents obviously saw the 300 cut-off but did not specifically see whether they re-started from that point or continued).

I definitely knew they were cheating (maybe they were presumptuous about mathematical or basic knowledge of lady drivers). After just a 2 minute argument; and request to speak to the pump manager – they paid me back the 300.

hi Manish ,
i faced this problem two times in the bangalore , frist time i was sufferd and loose 100 Rs but i knew somthing was wrong in that , i ask to fill petrol for 250 Rs , petrol pump guy filled only for 100 rs angain same story that you exaplained in your article . i was just surprised how he filled remaining 150 rs perol with in 4-5 second , and only i was just thinking what exaxtly he does wrong in that , but long que was there behind me , so just left from there .
but 2nd time i made full agrument saved money & saved myself to become a fool again and 🙂 situation like that …few more argument would have been converted in to fight …:) ..even i was fully ready for that. after all it all about our money & pride .

Thanks for the advice. A day after I read the article, same thing happened to me a bunk. I told him(attendant) to fill for Rs. 500. He filled for just Rs. 100 and apologised. Then he tried to divert me asking if I need bill and told me to turn my bike’s handle away. But I kept a steady look at the meter. After filling for Rs. 400, he stopped. According to him, it was Rs, 100 earlier and Rs. 400 now and total Rs. 500. I called a elderly person nearby who appeared to be in charge of Bunk and informed him about this deviation. He scolded the attendant and made him fill for another Rs. 100.
Thanks a lot for this article. I really do not know how many time I have been cheated earlier. I’m alert no-a-days and hope not get cheated.

Hi Manish.Basically i am from Kanpur and currently i am staying in delhi. I took the personal loan for 5 lacs from Citi bank. But after paying 4 EMI’s ,i couldnt pay the amount. I want to do the settlement.

This happened to me few times. then i realized it.
now i tell how much petrol to be be filled, then i ask him, how much he heard 😛
actually Gov should make sure that every petrol pump provides computerized receipt. The receipt will be based on how much fuel you got. It will solve the problem.

Few tips
switch of mobiles before you fill.
Get down from the vehicle and stand near the inlet of the vehicle.
Fill either for a fixed amount or ask for auto cut off as the attendant need not keep the hand on the nozzle.
Check zero even before you open the lid of the tank.

I’ve heard from many of my friends who have had such experiences. I think even I may have been cheated many a times by these pump attendants without my knowledge using all their tactics.
To avoid all those cheats, as a matter of rule, from past many months, I always fill up petrol in SHELL petrol pumps as far as possible One thing I’ve observed is that the mileage of my car improves significantly whenever I fill petrol from SHELL pumps. I don’t know whether it is because they fill up correct amount of petrol (unlike in other pumps where they reduce the amount due to cheating) or is it because SHELL has better quality petrol. Either way I can be rest assured that I wont be cheated at SHELL and we can trust them.

I had a heated argument with Yadav Petrol Pump Supervisor in Kharadi as well but to no avail. they all are like ‘chor chor mausere bhai’ ..

knowing their frequent scam , this time i asked to punch figures and the man got furious and his behavior changed suddenly and he pulled out the knob even before complete petrol was filled showing his anger spilling a good amount of fuel on ground , to which supervisor said that there always remains some petrol in knob , I guess in this way if 1000 people come , are they spilling 20,000 worth of petrol on ground ..

This happens very frequently at Yadav Service station. Near Wagholi on Nagar Road Pune.
I have been filling petrol from there for years and I know about this and every time I don’t even take my eyes off the meter for a second.
Now the attendant also knows that I take care of this so he doesn’t tries to scam me. But still his urges take control and he tries to do it.

yes i have heard this for a while now and experienced once in Hyderabad, Amberpet petrol station, perhaps there is a exclusive fraud-manual-for-fuel-bunk-owners or a wiki that they share such trade tricks all over.

Anyway, in my case i got off the car, created a scene, asked the guy to first shut up, remove the nozzle from car, reset the meter to 0 and start over.

Also heard some bunks have replaced the standard counter chips and software so the quantity of litres is always less than what you asked for, but the reading will always be right.

Here is another variant (happened to me at IOC).
I filled fuel for INR 2030 and offered to pay by credit card. The attender punched 2230 and I signed the slip. The attender gave me only the credit card slip and not the fuel bill. When asked for fuel bill, he gave some excuse or the other. When I insisted on bill, he gave the same and also returned INR200 back to me.
I simply stopped going to that bunk later.

It is an Eye- opener. It happened with me also. What they do is instead of resetting the fuel meter after earlier person filled the petrol, they continue with the same reading and fill the petrol for the next one and after you complete the filling petrol and when u about to go and when u look at petrol indicator, u see that they have put less petrol.

For every pertol/diesel refill there are 2 bills generated. One bill is generated from the petrol dispenser machine outlet itself. This is genuine bill. It correctly mentions how much oil was dispensed from that outlet after the last reset. Only 5% of the station will provide you this bill.

Another bill is generated by the attended which can be manipulated like the meter reading.

I too faced a similar incident in Delhi (HPCL petrol pump near Dhaula Kuan) around 2 years back. I was quite sure that I told them for tank full but they filled for Rs 200. I was feeling suspicious but couldn’t correctly find what is wrong. Happened twice, I could smell something fishy so stopped filling from it. Didn’t complain because I couldn’t find out what is wrong. Now I know it, thanks for telling about it. But I’m quite sure that I got the meter reset before second fill.

I’m still not sure how the jump in meter happens ? Any ideas on it. It is fairly easy for them to distract you for a few seconds, but how is it that they manage this jump in meter reading and how do we prevent it ?

Yes they can distract you , the moment someone distracts you , the next guy who was filling up just starts the meter from the same old point, when you look back after some seconds, you have no idea if they reset it or not . and in the confusion you dont speak up anything !

I have faced this once and called the Indian oil customer care. Its a total waste of time. First they don’t take the complain stating reasons like it only for LPG customer care. On repeated request they take the complain and ask you to call the following week. When you call the next week they say it is still in the process….The same dialogue is repeated for a month and they I lost my hope …………..Its a total scam ..everybody knows about it …the petrol pump attendant while offer a percentage to the pertol pump manager who will offer some to the owner who will in turn provide some cut to police and then local ministers ……………So nothing can be done here ….nothing…. If you create hangama at petrol they will beat you up …and all the customers standing will just watch and the game continues ………..

In Pune we daily face exact scenario as you have mentioned at almost all petrol pumps.
Another scam is also there, that is Puncture Scam. When you go remove puncture, tou will never find only one puncture, there will be at least 3 to 4 punctures.
Why???
Answer is, they make 2-3 extra punctures.

yes I spent around 1000Rs on puncture…can you believe?
we can recognize this,
1) generally more and more punctures find at left or right sides…..which is very unlikely in normal conditions….I heard they use some pin in-between their fingers
2) they move air filling pipe so heavily and show you that is faulty too and insist you to change
3) if you ask to use stepeny he will tell you that is faulty too…be cautious
Solutions
1) not all ppl are bad try to find good one…..
2) tubeless Tyre can go long way though it is puncture
3) make sure your stepeny is in condition always then you can’t be fooled
4) if he is showing you more than 2 punctures take a call to use stepeny

Pretty bad situation actually. In B’lore, after much horrible experiences, I have identified few outlets that I am certain are ethical. I visit only those now. You certainly have to remain mighty vigilant at all times. It helps to be generally aware of where to expect the fuel gauge needle to be after filling up….and that’s where I find the fuel-bar read outs be be horribly user unfriendly.

In Bangalore Shell is the only good option. They do change a bit more but their fuel is of good quality and they don not cheat, they follow proper instructions. I always used to fill my bike from the shell oil station in Whitefield…

The fuel level sensor in my bike is very inaccurate, it takes some minutes to tell the fuel level correctly. Many times the attendants have told me to check Zero before filling & I have cautiously done the same, this cheating has never happened with me, but one needs to be careful all the time. Probably car displays are sophisticated, we must add a feature to car instrument cluster which says 10 liters filled. If it says 9.9 liters filled, well one can ignore as the difference seems small. Thanks for eye-opening post

I have faced similar issues with variations at diff pumps.
1) They fill up with less amount, then when you ask, they refill from the same amount and ask you full (as mentioned above)
2) They return you less change
3) Another variation, as smaller pumps with busy traffic is , they will make you park in such a way that the pump reading is not visible to you. Then if you do not come out of car, you will be cheated. Otherwise you are safe.
4) After repeatedly getting problems immediately after filling from few pumps, i have finally narrowed down a list of pumps to avoid ALWAYS at my city.

I am going to hand over a piece of paper (e.g. post-it yellow note) on which Rs.500/- would be written.

I will not speak a word, just hand over it to him; and wait.
This way, he cant complain anything.

I was tried this trick: The guy counted 400 Rs. (return change) but while giving he gave only 300 Rs. But I counted the money and fought with him.
After this incident, I always visit shell petrol pump.

I am not 100% sure but, one way to counter this is by filling as much as possible only from Company Owned Company Operated Stores. Also try private players like Reliance and Shell, I always do and have not ever faced this issue!!!

I am from ahmedabad and i was cheated by both the ways.
1: For 1500 Rs ..(Pandar Soo in Gujarati), he filled of 500 (Panch Soo) , same comment, sir i heard the wrong one, then filled upto 1000 Rs (telling me meter was reset, but actually not..)
2: For 100 Rs..(withing a 2-3 seconds , meter shown to me 85 Rs…)..how i wonder ?

It is really a nice post Manish, it will help a lots (One that never care about the same..or not faced this types of scenario)

I have been cheated similarly in the past at HP, BP outlets & lodged complaints. I have strictly been going to SHELL pertol pumps ONLY since then. The SHELL petrol attendants are well trained, never resort to such tricks, the receipt from the pump is automatically printed – hence dissuading any misuse. The SHELL pumps have polite staff, are Clean and well maintained and always have working air pumps for tyres. Shell also often employ physically challenged staff, who are well trained on their activities & the fuel quality is Superior.

This scam has been around for a long time, but its good to write a detailed post about it and get people educated, I’m surprised why so many people get complacent when going to a petrol pump. As per safety regulations, the driver is supposed to get down from the vehicle before the fuel is pumped in.

Here’s what I do – park the vehicle, switch OFF the engine, wait for a few secs … then open the fuel lid and walk to the attendant almost immediately, keeping my eyes trained on the fuel gauge … when the attendant sees this, he won’t even try to cheat.

Simple rule – Be conscious when visiting a petrol pump. It might cost you an extra min, but will save you a lot of money.

This happened to me as well once at Indian Oil petrol pump on Nagar road near Kharadi, Pune. I observed that they did similar kind of trick and then next time on wards I was careful and even if they filled half way through I insisted that reset the meter and enter the exact remaining number and then start filling. This way they can’t cheat me. But even after that on every occasion they always fill 200 or 300 worth petrol even though I asked them to fill 1000 worth. Every time they did this I made sure that the remaining filling is done properly before giving my card or listening to anybody who is trying to distract me.

When you live in a country where practically everyone starting from LIC agents to petrol pump attendants is out to cheat you in order to make a few extra bucks, we have no choice but to be fully vigilant in any activity that involves parting with money.

I doubt registering a complaint at the petrol pump is gonna make any difference. Who is going to penalize the attendants? Most of the time they are doing this with the manager’s blessing. Complaining to HPCL or BPCL is also futile as you will be hard pressed to prove your case. Once you have been scammed, its just your word against theirs, isn’t it? So better to get out of the car and keep a hawk eye on the meter to avoid getting scammed in the first place. Don’t entertain any other distractions while the filling is being done.

I too experienced this kind of fraud.
There is another one also I experienced

Once I went to a petrol pump and asked them to fill the petrol for 500.
While the filling is going on other guys asked me for money. I gave 1000 note.
Before the finishing the petrol pumping he had handed over the change to me all in 100 notes. He counted in front of me as 5 notes. Actually it was 400 only. Before I start counting for verification , the other guy asked me to move forward as there are many customers are in queue. I just trusted the other guy and also I was verifying while he was counting I left the petrol pump and later realized that I got only 400.

One more time same thing happened in same petrol pump. Then I knew it happened previously this time I was cautious and counted and told him that he gave me 100 rs less, But the cashier was not agreeing and started saying that he gave me back 500. Then I shouted at him saying if you have given 500 then where it went I don’t have any other cash also in my hand. Then he said sorry a gave me back another 100.

To avoid this, come out from your car, don’t be lazy, see the meter reading , see the funnel inside the car and don’t take our eyes away from the meter till the time fuel is filled.
Just few minutes of alertness can help all of us, also we should not do this after reading this blog instead this is common sense and people should automatically know this after all its your hard earned money.
Not only fuel station we should have enough awareness so that no one can fool us.
There are few good blogs/informational website from where we can get all type of information related to banking, credit cards, day to day activities etc

This is also rampant in petrol pumps in Hinjewadi, Pune (one of the major IT Hubs in Pune). The only exception I’ve experienced and heard is that of the Shell Petrol Pump. The workers in the Shell petrol pumps are always very courteous and ensure that you check the zero reading etc. But then the prices of petrol over there are marginally more than the other vendors.

Yes. Hinjewadi petrol pumps are a big nuisance.
ALso the new HP started at nande-chande-sus road(chandere petrol pump) is full of cheats! they dont let anyone get out without cheating the customer.
I have never in my life seen such a petrol pump. its like they train all their employees before joinig.
and i m more agitated… cuz i have faced this multiple times….n have caught them red handed too!!! quite unbelievable. they shamelessly accept n say sry sometimes…

1. If there is a person sitting at the back of the car, are there still chances of duping the customer?
2. There is one more way the attendants cheat. One of a person who is known to me and is a friend of a petrol attendant told me this. Whenever they pump petrol right at the start, you may see the reading shoots within fraction of seconds and then stabilizes. This is the point when they dont pump petrol but flush out the air. So the petrol you get is actually less than what you think. This way they gain 10-20 rs of petrol from a single person.

This is happened for me as well.. I gave slap to both money taker and filling boy. I was not really intend to slap them.. but they lied and not accepting the fault. I had to fill back the petrol to gaze jar, after that only they accepted fault and filled back double petrol for cheating.

I always ask the guys to punch in the amout of petrol that I need in Rupees . This actually helps eliminate any mischief but one or two times at some petrol pumps the oversmart guys would not punch in the amout but then they got quiet a earful from me. Apart from the above I have another rule one is to fill petrol in the mornings or late evenings , secondly never be the first person at the pump when it opens for the day.

I too have experienced the same in Bangalore in many petrol outlets. I went to fill petrol worth Rs 200, when meter reading showed 50, they told sorry sir, i dint hear that u want for Rs200. When it happened for the first time, i thought it may be my mistake. But, when it happened again, i felt fishy. I shouted at them and asked them to call the manager. The manager told leave it sir, they are poor, etc. Looked like the manager himself is also involved. When asked for complaint book, they told its not available, and gave excuses, etc. Finally, they return the balance amount to me.

Lessons learnt : I am always cautious while filling petrol. I dont entertain people who came asking for whether i want to pay by cash or credit card. I usually told them to wait and i put an eye on meter reading. Its better to get out of car and talk to them.

This does happen and this happened with a friend and I was the pillion on his Bullet. Later we realized we were duped. From then on, I avoid that pump and let my friends/relatives know to avoid it too. And, as advised, when I refuel my car, I make it a point to stand next to the filling guy. Going out of the car is also needed because I have to punch my PIN for the credit card. Another thing, I always fill in fixed fuel, i.e. I know I am going to fill in Fuel for Rs2000 or Rs2500, and I ask the attendant to punch that amount in the filling machine first, and then start filling… that way, the filling is unattended. As the filling goes on, I ask him to get the credit card part done (the amount is already pre decided), taking him away from the filling process and my car, not allowing him to fiddle around os do mischief 😉
Overall, I think, we as consumers should be alert, know your rights, know what and where to complain if you feel cheated !

One more variation of the same scam – Lets say you want Rs. 100o petrol. The guy will start at zero and will go till 800/-, just at this time you will be distracted by another guy, same trick cash or card etc. At this point, suddenly the meter jumps to 1000/-.
If you are careful, you can see that it took about 30 secs to go from 0 to 800 and then suddenly within 5 secs it reaches 1000/-. No matter how careful you are and you know this would happen, this happens at least once in 4-5 attempts.
I found that some petrol pumps will always do it and some will NEVER do it. I have complained, and when I screamed, they just filled 200/- petrol *free* (because they know that they have duped that much money). But I found that switching petrol pumps was much hassle free way of doing it.

As incidents explained here, I also experienced same thing. when I asked attendant to fill petrol for 100rs, he sets to zero and starts fill and when it reaches 50 to 60rs another guy came asked for money. so I tend to take the wallet from my pocket , the attendant guys presses some button to make meter to 100rs. this is happened to me many times. but initially I wasn’t sure about this is happening. but last time(2 weeks back) I confirmed it. full of cheaters. Beware guys.